Cats are Better than People
by Crystalkinz
Summary: (The title is a WIP lol) Yuri Plisetsky moves to Hasetsu to get a part-time job at one of the best vet clinics in the world. He doesn't expect to meet a cat-loving, motorcycle-driving veterinary technician who may have more to him than he seems. Or: The one where Yuri has no idea how to feelings and so he uses cats as shields instead.
1. Chapter 1

"Yuri Plisetsky, right? Welcome!" The man grabbed Yuri's hand and enthusiastically shook it. "Celestino Cialdini, co-owner of Hasetsu Animal Hospital. I'm so glad they found someone to take over for Leo. Big plans, that kid. I'm sure you'll be able to fill his shoes, though."

Yuri nodded silently, not entirely sure how to respond to the man. He was tall, loud, and _happy._ It was intimidating. Yuri had only officially been hired two days ago and had so had still not met the owners of the clinic - until now, that is. The man had spotted him coming in through the front door as he didn't have a key for the staff entrance yet, and had clearly recognized him as the "new kid" (probably for his hesitance to walk through the gate that separated the waiting room from the rest of the hospital).

Yuri knew he was just here to take over for the last kid who had had a part-time job as a veterinary assistant here; Leo de la Iglesia had been the previous, and it was clear by the way everyone stared at Yuri that they expected a lot from him to meet the standard of the teenager before.

"Well, Yuri, it's great to meet you. Have you finished your health and safety training yet? Let me guess, Viktor hasn't given you a break from it since you walked in."

Again, Yuri noted mutely, eyes wide. It was true, Viktor Nikiforov was a bit overwhelming at first. However, Yuri felt that the young man was actually not so bad, if a little too flamboyant.

"I'm sure you'll have a great time here. Nice meeting you!" Celestino took off at a brisk pace, obviously on a new mission to talk to someone else now. Yuri let out a sigh of relief at getting through that conversation without having to utter a single word. Although he was usually quite a strong character himself, Yuri knew that there was too much riding on this job _not_ to be nervous about his first official day.

His mother had told him that he could study to become a veterinary technician in Hasetsu if he truly thought that the program would be useful to him, but in reality he was more interested in getting a part-time job at the best veterinary hospital in the continent. What he hadn't expected was the first name basis, easy-going atmosphere. It felt like he had been thrown in a shark tank.

Yuri wandered down the hall, looking though the tiny windows into the exam room, trying to find the staff room where he had been told he would meet the team. Most of them were empty, but his heart kept with excitement as he peered into one in which a small kitten was sitting on the exam table, clearly there for its first check-up. _Cool._

On the other side of the hallway he found the staff room. It had a long table down the centre and a huge whiteboard covered in scrawled notes, some in neat, curly cursive and others in utter chicken scratch. He made out one note: "If anybody wants FREE Adaptil I ordered 20 boxes instead of 2!" He wondered what Adaptil was and if it was worth finding out who was offering it.

"Yuri! You made it!"

Yuri spun around to see a grinning Viktor holding a mug of tea - coffee? - sitting on top of 4 or 5 stacked chairs rather than opting for one of the ones already set up around the table.

"Hi Viktor," Yuri said, feeling a bit more confident now that he was seeing a familiar face. Viktor had been the one to hire him for the job, overjoyed at discovering that Yuri had come to Hasetsu specifically for it. He had also worried endlessly over the fact that a mere 16-year-old was living alone out in the big wide world, but he had significantly calmed down when Yuri assured him that he was at a boarding school where he would be very safe.

Now, Viktor was in charge of briefing him on all of the safety concerns of working in a big scary veterinary clinic. Yuri didn't pay attention to most of it, just nodding absently and blowing his hair out of his eyes every once in a while. Viktor didn't seem to be bothered by Yuri's periodic eye rolls at information that was " _clearly_ obvious, old man", or his clear disinterest as he rested his cheek on his hand and huffed.

"Okay, Yuri, let's go over what we've learned! Then I'll call everyone in to meet you. First: what do you do if someone drops anesthetic?"

"Leave."

"Good! And…?"

"Get everyone else to leave."

"Perfect! Amazing!"

Eye-roll.

"Second: if someone breaks in -"

"Lead them to the drugs and tell them I don't have a key but they're welcome to try to eff up the cabinet door to get them if they want to."

"Well, maybe not in so many words, Yuri."

"Yeah, but I'm right, aren't I?"

It was nice to be able to relax like this around Viktor. The man didn't care if he swore (although, in most cases he still tried to replace curse words with gentler replacements such as "eff" in case anyone was listening).

This exchange continued for a few more minutes before Viktor finally gave a satisfied nod. "Okay! Ready to meet everybody?"

Yuri nodded. Finally! He wasn't really all that excited for the meet-and-greet, but at least health and safety was over.

Viktor poked his head out the door. "Tell everyone Yuri is ready to meet you!"

Within minutes, the room was bustling with a variety of vets, technicians, assistants and front desk workers. Most were ignoring him in favour of chatting with each other, leading Viktor to clap his hands to regain their attention.

"Yuri! I want you to meet everybody!"

He gestured over to the man that Yuri had spoken to - or, rather, the man who had spoken at Yuri - upon his arrival. "Celestino Cialdini, veterinarian and co-owner." He moved his hand to point at a harsher, older man next to Celestino. "And Yakov, also veterinarian and co-owner!" The man gave a gruff nod of introduction.

The different people started to speak one by one, introducing themselves.

"Phichit Chulanont, vet tech and rodent specialist!"

"Christophe Giacometti. I work at the front desk since I'm _great_ with people."

"Sara Crispino. Nice to meet you! Oh. Veterinary assistant."

"My name is Jean-Jaques Leroy, but you can call my JJ. King JJ, if it suits ya!" _Yuck._

Yuuri Katsuki! Sorry, I know we have the same name," he added, seeing Yuri's nose scrunch distainfully. "I'm one of the vets here."

"The cutest vet," Viktor added, followed by a chorus of groans from the rest of the group.

JJ turned to Yuri and chuckled. "Don't worry kid, they keep it in their pants. Most of the time."

Yuri shuddered, more at JJ than at the sappy couple's exchange.

The introductions continued, with Yuri (pardon my French) not really giving a shit about half of the people talking.

"Otabek Altin."

Yuri found his gaze staying on this man for a moment. He seemed young - almost as young a Yuri himself - and much more laid-back than the rest of the staff. He was handsome, even in the ridiculous sky blue and black scrubs everyone had to wear.

"Otabek, you've gotta say more than that," Phichit encouraged.

"I'm a veterinary technician. I like cats." _Sold._


	2. Chapter 2

"So, Yuri, I know you're just itching to get started. Unfortunately, though, we don't have any veterinary assistants available to show you around. Their schedules don't work well with yours, considering you're going to school during the daytime," Viktor said, looking at the younger boy thoughtfully. "How would you feel about shadowing Otabek for the beginning?"

Yuri looked up, surprised. "Otabek? Isn't he a technician?"

Viktor chuckled. "Yes, but he didn't used to be. He started out as a co-op student here, and then got a part-time job as a veterinary assistant. He went to college to get a veterinary technician degree, however, so we gave him the job when he got back. I'm sure he remembers the assistant job well enough to teach you while it's slow in the clinic."

This was good. Yuri tried to hide his excitement, but internally, he found himself feeling… giddy? What a great way to start out the new job! A cool guy who liked cats was going to teach him. He had been expecting - and fearing - that it would be Viktor, and Yuri wasn't sure he could handle spending three hours a day with the old geezer. No, this was clearly the better alternative.

"Is that okay?"

"Yes! Yes."

"Great!" Viktor exclaimed, clearly quite pleased with his solution to the problem. "I'll call him." The silver-haired man bounded to his feet with an unnatural level of energy and strode over to a phone hooked up to the wall. It had line upon line of buttons above the number pad, some of which were lit or flashing red. Viktor tapped a few numbers before saying, "Otabek?"

"One sec!" a voice responded distantly through the phone, clearly on speaker on the other end.

A moment later, Otabek's voice returned, clearly right next to the phone now. "Hey, Vitya. Sorry about that. There was a particularly squirmy puppy here for a rabies shot. What's up?"

"Come to the staff room! I'm putting you on green duty."

Yuri looked up at Viktor questioningly. The other man chuckled. "That's what we call the person who's training the new staff," he clarified. Yuri glared at him at the condescending way of talking about his training, and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet on the table with a _thunk_ in a show of defiance.

There was a sigh on the other line. "'Kay. Coming."

A few minutes later, Otabek walked in, trying to brush fur off of his scrubs. He looked a bit worn out from the obviously difficult patient, but somehow he still looked very… good. He looked up at Yuri and gave him a short nod. "Okay, well, I have a client coming in in a few minutes. I'm working with Dr. Katsuki today. Don't worry, though, we have little time. Mister is always a bit late."

Yuri nodded, standing up.

"Come on, I'll show you the treatment area. You haven't seen it before, right?" He led Yuri the rest of the way down the hall, passing doors marked "Exam Room 3," "Exam Room 4", and so on. At the end of the hall, there was a door with a metal plate which Otabek gave a firm push, revealing the place where the action really happened. Yuri stopped, staring. The treatment area was _so cool._

It was a large room which plenty of light filtering in through the open windows lining the far wall. There were lines of cages, some of which contained sleepy-looking animals; one cage had a sign that said "watch" taped to the front, and inside, a fluffy white Persian cat paced back and forth, bristling angrily. Yuri didn't know where to look first. His eye was drawn in every direction.

Along the middle of the room, there were long tables covered in drawers, and on one of them, two of the technicians were holding a guinea pig and shaving its tummy. It was squirming and chirping. "Oh, you are _so mad,_ " one of the technicians noted, laughing. Yuri thought back to the introductions and decided that he was almost certain that this was Phichit. "It's okay, miss. Shh shh shh, it's okay," the man cooed.

He then looked up and waved as the pair walked in. "Hey, Yuri! Welcome!" His moment of distraction was quickly ended and the guinea pig let out a particularly loud sound and tried to flip itself upright.

"They're gonna give her an ultrasound," Otabek explained, gesturing to the squealing rodent. "They need to shave her fur to get a good view."

Yuri walked over to get a closer look. The clipper blades whirred noisily, but the guinea pig drowned it out, clearly displeased with its current situation. It was for the best of the animal's health, Yuri knew, but he still felt bad for it.

"Here, why don't I show you around a little? I'll get a call when Mister gets here," Otabek offered, touching Yuri's shoulder lightly to get his attention.

Before Yuri could respond, however, he felt a bump against his leg and sucked in a breath in surprise. He looked down to see what had caused the disturbance to find a tiny cat sitting at his feet. It was gorgeous, with silvery blue eyes and dappled cream-coloured fur. A bengal, perhaps, but he had never seen such a light one before.

"One of your cats is loose," Yuri deadpanned.

"That's Artemis," supplied the other technician - Georgi, if he remembered correctly - in a thick Russian accent. There sure were a lot of Russian people here, Yuri noted.

"She lives here."

"We got her when she was just a kitten. Careful, she might try to climb your pants," Otabek added helpfully.

Yuri bent down excitedly, holding out a relaxed hand for the cat to sniff. She stared at him straight in the eye before letting out a long, loud "miauuuuuuuuu." She promptly turned and walked away from him.

"She likes you!" Phichit exclaimed.

"She does?" Yuri looked up, confused. His brow furrowed with annoyance at how _happy_ the technician always seemed to be. It was overwhelming.

"Well, usually she hisses. That was her way of saying that she'll tolerate you. It's better than what I got when I started!"

"Maybe she just doesn't like how loud you are." Yuri responded snidely, turning back to Otabek. "I want to see where I'll be working."

"Oh. Well, everywhere, really. You're job is mostly going to be helping out with procedures. You know, like what the technicians are doing with the pig."

As he said this, Georgi gave a satisfied noise and the two let the guinea pig flip upright. Phichit then carried it off to another room.

"Hey, wanna watch the ultrasound? They're checking if she's pregnant."

—

Yuri didn't get much training in for the rest of the shift. He followed Otabek around wherever he went, watching appointments and procedures, and trying to help out where possible (although this usually just meant washing dishes or spraying down tables). He tried to keep his snarky comments in check, as well (although this wasn't entirely successful; when JJ decided to pay a visit to the treatment area, Yuri couldn't help but call him a douche. I mean, come on! Anyone who proudly wears a lanyard with a picture of his wife at the end is asking for it). Mostly, however, his day was taken up by trying to stop himself from vacantly staring at Otabek when there was nothing else to do. He was very fun to look at.

At the end of the day, Yuri packed his things, changed into his more comfortable clothing (he didn't have scrubs yet so they had fitted him with vastly oversized old ones) and waved goodbye to Otabek, who was now holding Artemis on his lap on one of the computer chairs. She was purring loudly, and Yuri was tempted to secretly snap a picture with how cute the scene was. He turned to leave, excited to be going through the staff entrance for the first time, when he nearly ran into Viktor.

"Not so fast, Yuri! I have something for you!" the man quipped.

With a flourish, he pulled a bag out from behind his back and tipped the contents into his hand. A single rectangular object fell out. He held it out to Yuri so he could see it.

It was small badge. It read, "Yuri Plisetsky - Veterinary Assistant".

 _Cool._


End file.
